He left a white supremacy group. Now he’s working to help others do the same
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Tony McAleer was just 16 years old when he got involved with a hate group.
He said he was into Vancouver’s punk scene, where he met a group of skinheads.
“They terrified me,” he said.
“I grew up as this sensitive, bright kid. I didn’t get into fights at school. I wasn’t good at fighting. I was a smart kid, not a tough kid. But these guys had the one thing that I craved at the time, and that was toughness.”
So, in order to gain the support of these “tough” people that gave him the power he so desired, he started spending time with them, and eventually participating in their violence.
McAleer soon became active in the White Aryan Resistance, where he became a leader.
But 15 years later, he left that life behind and embarked on a path of healing. He’s since founded a non-profit, Life After Hate, which helps other people leaving white supremacy groups, written a book called The Cure For Hate, and starred in a documentary about his journey.
He sat down for an interview with CBC’s Daybreak South host Chris Walker ahead of a screening of The Cure for Hate: Bearing Witness to Auschwitz in Kelowna.
Content retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tony-mcaleer-white-supremacy-group-left-the-cure-for-hate-1.7455391.
